Quaesitum
by Lilac Queen
Summary: In the magical underworld of Konoha Institute, Sakura Haruno finds her heart drawn more and more to Sai, while her longing for Sasuke, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. SasuSaku. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Sakura finds her heart drawn more and more to Sai, while her longing for Sasuke, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. As their search for the truth leads the three friends into peril, Sakura's heart is increasingly torn, especially when one of their own betrays them. SasuSaku. AU.**

* * *

**Beta read by: blankstateofmind (Thanks Sado-chan! You're awesome ^_^)  
**

**Dedicated to: All the lovely readers of Fanfiction, especially the ones who enjoy Supernatural fiction!  
**

**Inspired by: "The Infernal Devices" by Cassandra Clare  
**

**A/N: The storyline is adapted from the book mentioned above, though the plot will be changed throughout the fic. The character Nate (played by Naruto) betrays his friends, but in this fic, he will be the nice guy and the plot will be changed whole on by my perspective. So don't expect it to be the same as the book, 'cause I've put my own mind into the planning of storyline. For further information read the A/N at the end of chapter. Thank you.**

* * *

_Prologue: The Outcast Dead_

* * *

The fog was thick, muffling sound and sight. When it parted, Sasuke Uchiha could see the street rising ahead of him, slick, wet, and black with rain, and as always, he could hear the voices of the dead.

Not all Shadowhunters could hear ghosts unless the ghosts chose to be heard, but Sasuke was one of those who could, since he belonged directly to the Uchiha bloodline. As he approached the old cemetery, their voices rose in a ragged chorus—wails and pleading, cries and snarls. This was not a peaceful burial ground; Sasuke knew that, it was not his first time visiting the Driftwood Graveyard near the Tenchi Bridge. He did his best to block out the noises, hunching his shoulders so that his collar covered his ears and head down, as a fine mist of rain dampened his ebony hair.

The entrance to the cemetery was halfway down the block: a pair of wrought iron gates set into a high stone wall, though any mundane passing by would have observed nothing but a plot of overgrown land, part of an unnamed builder's yard. As the younger Uchiha neared the gates, something else no mundane would have seen materialized out of the fog: a great bronze knocker in the shape of a hand, the fingers bony and skeletal. With a grimace Sasuke reached out one of his own gloved hands and lifted the knocker, letting it fall twice, the hollow clank resounding through the night.

Beyond the gates mist rose like steam from the ground, obscuring the gleam of bone against the rough ground. Slowly the mist began to coalesce, taking on an eerie blue glow. The Uchiha put his hands to the bars of the gate; the cold of the metal seeped through his gloves, into his bones, causing him to shiver involuntarily. It was more than an ordinary cold. When ghosts rose, they drew energy from their surroundings, depriving the air around them of heat. The hairs on Sasuke's neck prickled and stood up as the blue mist formed slowly into the shape of an old woman in a ragged dress and pale yellow apron, her head bent.

"Hello, Aiko," said the Uchiha.

The ghost raised her head. Old Aiko was a strong spirit, one of the strongest Sasuke had ever encountered. Even as moonlight speared through a gap in the clouds, she hardly looked transparent. Her body was solid; her hair twisted in a thick brown-gray coil over one shoulder, her rough, red hands braced her hips. Her eyes were hollow with twin blue flames flickering in their depths.

"Sasuke Uchiha," she said. "Back again so soon?"

She moved toward the gate with that gliding motion peculiar to ghosts. Her feet were bare and filthy, despite the fact that they never touched the ground.

Sasuke leaned against the gate, a smirk plastered against his handsome face. "You know I missed your pretty face."

She grinned, her eyes flickering, and he caught a glimpse of the skull beneath the half-transparent skin. Overhead the clouds had closed in one another again, blocking out the moon. Idly, the Uchiha wondered what Old Aiko had done to get buried here, far from consecrated ground. Most of the wailing noises of the dead belonged to prostitutes, suicides, and stillbirths—those outcast dead who could not be buried in a churchyard. Although Aiko had managed to make the situation quite profitable for herself, so perhaps she didn't mind.

She chortled. "What do you want, then, young Shadowhunter? Blue Whinnis venom? I've a talon of a Bi'lakor demon, polished very fine, the poison at the tip entirely invisible—"

"No," Sasuke said. "That's not what I need. I need demon powders, ground fine."

Aiko turned her head to the side and spat a tendril of blue fire. "Now, what's a fine young man like you want with stuff like that?"

Sasuke just sighed inwardly; Aiko's protests were part of the bargaining process. Jiraiya had already sent Sasuke to Old Aiko several times now, once for black stinking candles that stuck to his skin like tar, once for the bones of an unborn child, and once for a bag of faeries' eyes, which had dripped blood on his shirt. Demon powders sounded pleasant by comparison.

"You think I'm a fool," Aiko went on. "This is a trap, isn't it? You Shadowhunters catch me selling that sort of stuff, and it's the stick for Old Aiko, it is."

"You're _already_ dead." Sasuke did his best to not sound irritated. He wouldn't want to lose a bargainer. "I don't know what you think the Clave could do to you now."

"Ha!" Her hollow eyes flamed. "The prisons of the Silent Brothers, beneath the earth, can't hold either the living or the dead; you know that, Shadowhunter."

Sasuke held up his hands, a dry smirk on his face. "No tricks, old one. Surely you must have heard the rumors running about in Underworld. The shinobis have other things in mind than tracking down ghosts who traffic in demon powders and faerie blood." He leaned forward. "I'll give a good price." He drew a cambric bag from his pocket and dangled it in the air. It clinked like coins rattling together. "They all fit your description, Aiko."

An eager look came over her dead face, and she solidified enough to take the bag from him. She plunged one hand into it and brought her palm out of rings—gold wedding rings, each tied in a lovers' knot at the top. Old Aiko, like many ghosts, was always looking for that talisman, that lost piece of her past that would finally allow her to die, the anchor that kept her trapped in the world of ghosts. In her case it was her wedding ring. It was common belief, Shikamaru had told him, that the ring was long gone, buried under the river bed of Kushiro, but in the meantime she'd take any bag of found rings in the hope one would turn out to be hers.

She dropped the rings into the bag, which vanished somewhere on her undead person, and handed him a folded sachet of powder in return. He slipped it into his jacket pocket just as the ghost began to shimmer and fade. "Hold up, there, Aiko. This isn't all I've come for tonight."

The spirit flickered while greed warred with impatience and the effort of remaining visible. Finally, she grunted. "Very well. What else did you want?"

Sasuke hesitated. This is not something Jiraiya had sent him for; it was something he wanted to know for himself. "Love potions—"

Aiko screeched with laughter. "_Love potions?_ For _Sasuke Uchiha_? It isn't my way to turn down payment, but any man who looks like you has got no need of love potions, and that's a fact."

"No," Sasuke said, a little desperation in his voice. "I was looking for the opposite, really—something that might put an end to being in love."

"A hatred potion?" Aiko asked in an amused tone.

"I was hoping for something more akin to indifference? Tolerance?"

She made a snorting noise, astonishingly human for a ghost. "I'd hardly like to tell you, Uchiha, but if you want a girl to hate you, there are easy enough ways of making it happen. You don't need _my_ help with the poor female being."

And with that she vanished, spinning away into the mists among the graves. Sasuke, looking after her retreating form, sighed. "Not for her," he said under his breath, though there was no one to hear him, "for _me_…" And he leaned his head against the cold iron gate, disappearing a few moments later in the clouding mist.

* * *

_Glossary:_

_Blue Whinnis venom- It is a type of biocide. Biocide can also refer to the destruction of life, a form of omnicide that affects every living thing, not just humans._

_Bi'lakor demon- It's a fictional character portraying as a demon in the game Warhammer Fantasy as the Dark Master._

* * *

**Please note that all the potions, venoms, as well as supernatural powers mentioned in this story are purely fictional and made up by me with help of some research from my side. So if you expect to find some information about any stuff about the things mentioned above on internet, you will be disappointed. So, if you need some knowing, please mention it in your review and I'll give you the meaning and it's overall objective.**

**Also, the foremost important point is, Tessa (played by Sakura) marries Jem (played by Sai) instead of Will (played by Sasuke). But in my fic, I'm going to make certain massive and consequential changes 'cause Sakura has to end up with Sasuke, and no one else ;) I won't allow that. Never!  
**

**Now, this is my seventh fic, so like yesterday I mentioned in Eau De Nil (my sixth fic), I'm not sure if I should continue this fic. Based on the response from the readers, I'll decide whether or not to continue. The greater the response, the more are the possibilities of me continuing this fic. Please don't think that I'm saying this for getting more reviews, it's just that I'm not sure whether I should do so many fics at a time.**

**But the one thing I'm sure of is that if you readers want, I could definitely continue it. Nothing pleases me more than entertaining and satisfying my readers to keep them happy. Yeah, I take writing quite seriously :) It's my only outlet and life purpose. _  
_**

******If more readers want me to continue, I _will_ continue, with all my heart and life XD I'm sure I can handle this many fics, though, with the help from my readers, of course! And yeah, leave your response on this one, okay? The more the merrier! I need some motivation, right? I've some really good stuff planned for this one.I think I'm getting a knack for Supernatural genre. I wonder if its good or bad :/  
**

******Anyways, please leave your comments on how you feel about this and whether it seems promising.  
**

******Also, the title "Quaesitum" means something sought for; the true value, in case you were wondering.  
**

******So REVIEW, all my lovely readers! I love you all!  
**

******~azura14 at your service ^_^  
**


	2. Authors Note

Yo, my readers! Wanted to inform you all that sadly, I don't think I'll be continuing this fic.

The reason is that, I don't think readers like this fic, and therefore, why waste time in working on something that isn't worth it? ^_^ So yes, since it's not worthy, I'll either delete this fic now, or maybe later… o.0

I really wanted to continue this one, but don't know what went wrong… -_-"

Well, I'm hoping to update Eau De Nil by weekend, though not sure… :3

And goddamit! Review my fics instead of just adding them to Alerts/Faves! *sigh* Even I have a limit to my patience, you know… -_-

The response for this fic isn't satisfying, therefore it is to be deleted...unless something crashed into my head overtime *sweatdrop*


End file.
